INTRODUCTION
Upon response to a report, a seven month old puppy was found discarded like thrash by the Humane Rescue Alliance, a non-profit organization. After, they discovered several wounds consisting of two broken vertebrae, two stab wounds on her chest and a dislocated hip all which needed urgent surgical repair but worst of all were injuries indicating that she had been sexually abused and likely strangled. This is the unfortunate story of animals like Luna who have been sexually abused by humans for their selfish gratification.
THE NATURE OF BESTIALITY
Bestiality is the sexual activity between a human and an animal, it goes further to include aiding another to commit sex with animals or the observation and filming of those acts for sexual gratification. Bestiality is initiated by both men and women although, there has been a larger percentage of men than women who engage in the act, sexual researcher Alfred Kinsey estimated that 8% of men and 3.6% of women had engaged in some sort of sexual activity with an animal within the United States with higher prevalence in rural areas. The act is exerted through fondling genitalia, vaginal, anal, oral penetration or and penetration with an object either from person to animal or vice versa.
Because of the nature of bestiality, it is not commonly known to occur but this is a wrong perception as the act frequently occurs and while it is illegal in most states it is legal in some, as such, a man or woman in Hawaii can walk into a pet store buy a dog, take it home and then have sex with it provided the animal is not caused any pain, as abnormal as this is, it is considered pleasurable by those who commit the act and countries like Finland, Japan, and Russia among others, aid in the growth of this activity. The existence of bestiality did not start in modern times, historically, the concept has been for as long as the existence of man, who has viewed it as abnormal in every era, regardless, some of those involved in bestiality believe since animals can be slaughtered for food, used for scientific experiment without the need of consent, the consent of animals are not required when using them for sexual purposes. Animals mostly used include, pets and livestock. It was formally conceived that bestiality occurred mostly in rural areas among farmers because of their lengthened relationship and intimacy with their animals but nowadays, the occurring rate in urban areas are closely synonymous to rural areas.
CAUSES OF BESTIALITY
An Indian report was conducted on an eighteen year old unmarried, illiterate male who frequently committed bestiality which eventually resulted in the death of a calf. It was revealed he had no brain dysfunction, had an average intelligence and active cognitive functioning, nevertheless, he had experienced unpleasant life events such as the death of his mother, consumption of alcohol at an early age and being sexually abused by adult male multiple times. He therefore found solace in bestiality and watching animal pornography as he felt physically inadequate, had low self-esteem, internalized hostility, self-contempt and lacked emotional connection with the opposite gender. Although this is not the scenario that necessarily pushes every person who commits bestiality to, the motivations stated in the report are determinant factors for the cause of bestiality.
It is important to differentiate between bestiality and zoophilia, while bestiality is just the act of having sexual intercourse with an animal, zoophilia is the desire for sexual contact including emotional connection with an animal. Zoophiles argue to care more about the animal, about their consent when having sexual intercourse with them as well as having strong emotional intimacy which in other words can be described as love for the animal, while the issue of consent is still on the fence as to whether an animal can give consent or not, zoophilism is a strong reason why humans bestial with animals, although not all zoophiles commit bestiality but there is a high tendency for them to commit bestiality.
Desire is a major cause of bestiality as it has been proven time and again that human beings desire in sexual gratification differ and sometimes in strange ways, while some find specific sexual acts gratifying, others find gratification in individuals of their gender, so also others find bestiality desirable and satisfying. Curiosity is another factor to be considered, people who commit the act easily find comfort in online communities that allow users who commit bestiality to comfortably admit and encourage curious visitors to commit the act, beast-forum, an online community among others is the world’s largest online zoophile community with millions of registered users, the community allows users to comfortably discuss their bestial activities, share tips on how to get the animals to participate as well as post pictures of their bestial activities which encourages viewers with abnormal sexual fantasy, commit the act.
Watching of animal bestial pornography is a gear to committing the act, sites like www.heyzoo.net who display sexual intercourse with animals increases the chances of curious viewers to succumb to the act. While some commit bestiality because of their perceived emotional love for the animal others commit it because they want to feel in control and there is no better victim than one who is vulnerable to their vices. Another reason, is the inferiority complex and loneliness of the person who may also find it difficult to be attracted to the opposite sex, reasons for this can differ from being bullied to being sexually abused or awful traumatic experiences that leave an individual stigmatized, another plausible reason is the recent trend in Nigeria where ladies claim to sleep with dogs for the sake of money. According to the daily post, the poverty rate has skyrocketed to the point where girls see the need of sleeping with animals to earn, also the strike embarked by Universities leave a lot of ladies idle to participate in the act.
EFFECTS OF BESTIALITY
The effects of bestiality are fatal and can lead to the death of both the animal and the human involved. A famous case is the story of Kenneth Pinyan, a Boeing engineer and a resident of Enumclaw, who died from internal injuries, after receiving anal sex from a stallion.
HEALTH INJURIES
Bestial activities can lead to health issues in both the animal and human as diseases can be transmitted from one party to the other. Diseases transmitted to animal are called anthroponotic diseases and can cause serious harm to animals who generally receive less care than humans. Zoonotic diseases can also be transferred from animal to human. Zoonosis refers to diseases that can be passed down from animal to human through contact with the animal feces, urine, saliva and sexual intercourse with the animal, which is a much faster way of contacting the diseases. The most fatal of these diseases include: leptospirosis that causes meningitis, echinococcosis that causes cysts to grow in the liver, brain, kidney and lungs, rabies, penile cancer which causes malignant cancer cells to form in the tissue of the penis, allergic reactions that causes the cells in the immune system interpret a foreign substance as harmful, all these diseases can lead to death. A famous story is the repot of a 43year old woman in Ireland who died of allergic reaction after having sex with a dog.
PHYSICAL INJURIES
Bestiality can lead to physical injury of the animal especially in cases where the human enjoys sexual gratification by physically assaulting and battering the animal which in worst cases, can lead to the animal being euthanize. Humans who engage in the act can also be physical injured, for instance the male organ of an aroused dog has a large bulb that can injure the vagina and large animals can crush a person because of abnormal sexual arousal alien to animals, all these can eventually lead to death. In Zimbabwe a man suffered heart attack after having sex with a pig and died few days later.
SOCIETAL INJURIES
Everyone except the human and the animal involved in the bestial act, comprising of the society are also be injured by existence of the act, when the curiosity and desire of young adult are incited as a result of viewing animal pornographies online. In most countries, the act is illegal and anyone caught is jailed as such increasing the number of people in the already congested prisons. Research has shown that people drawn to animal pornography and commit bestiality are more likely to be drawn to child pornography and assault children. A 1999 study found that they were three times more likely to have criminal history.
CONCLUSION
While zoophiles consider bestiality as a show of affection to their animals, hoping that one day it would be legalized like gayism, others commit the act purely for sexual gratifications, and although human desire in sexual gratification differs, the act of bestiality is a disgusting violent act whose effects are grievous enough to outway the fleeting pleasure derived.
REFRENCES
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About the Writer
Aliu Precious is an excellent researcher who has a keen eye for conspicuous opinions. She loves reading, writing and believes these skills improve a person’s intellect, she is also creative and attracted to artworks and artistic point of view.
